Atlanta Braves
81-73, 1st NL West, Lost NLCS 3-0
1972 Outlook: Atlanta had just gotten off of 2 division titles in 3 seasons but the team looked like it was starting to age. They were headed for some downtimes, surely; at least a return to the 82-80 level that they'd "achieved" in 1970. Other than George House and John Winn, the pitching staff didn't seem like much. The team's top 2 hitters - Henry Riggs and Kevin Dwyer - were both over 32 years of age. Defensively it felt like the club was already starting to fall apart at the seams.
1972 In Review: What the league didn't count on was that nobody else in the NL West was ready to step up and be the new guys. The Braves jumped out to a 10-5 start, slipped to 21-15 by the end of May, and then just kind of held in place, just above .500, for the rest of the year. They were once again good on offense in spite of losing Riggs for almost 2 months all told and the pitching was... just good enough. They eked out a close race for the division and then, as predicted, went down quick in the NLCS.
1973 Outlook: This team isn't getting any younger and I wouldn't say the pitching is getting any better either. Atlanta's going to have to make some tough decisions on some great players soon.
Pitching
George House
RHP No. 7
RR, 6'6" 199 lbs.
Born 1942-11-17
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ATL MLB 1 1 0 5.99 2 2 0 12.0 17 9 8 1 5
1971 ATL MLB 23 9 0 3.11 38 38 9 277.2 259 114 96 69 195
1972 ATL MLB 14 10 0 3.16 31 31 8 219.0 187 84 77 56 149
For the past 4 years House has alternated being lights-out, Cy Young Award levels of good with being a lesser guy. In 1970 it was because he missed the entire season with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. This year. he also missed a month with a torn hamstring. At least it wasn't an arm injury. The end result was that House's ERA held steady in a year where ERAs plummeted throughout the rest of the league. He did make his 3rd All-Star Game so there's that at least.
House throws 4 pitches for strikes, including a great curveball. The game lists him as a finesse pitcher but he's well above average in terms of getting guys out (the league averaged about 5.4 and of course it's less than that for starters). The peripherals if anything look like he was exactly the same but we know a decline when we see it! One thing House isn't great at is working late into innings; the Braves probably hurt that old ERA of his by pushing him into the late innings as often as they do. From the Braves' standpoint, what else are they supposed to do?
Felix Carranza
RHP No. 31
RR, 6'0" 183 lbs.
Born 1944-04-21
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ATL MLB 9 8 4 4.40 46 15 3 147.0 155 74 72 53 107
1971 ATL MLB 16 9 0 3.92 35 32 8 238.2 247 108 104 75 138
1972 ATL MLB 16 11 0 3.14 35 35 11 257.1 236 104 90 75 155
Even though Carranza led the team in wins, complete games, innings pitched, strikeouts, and (technically) ERA, it was House who was asked to pitch in Game 1 of the NLCS and, probably, it'll be House who will throw on Opening Day in 1973. Carranza's the #2 starter; that's just how it is. He is, legitimately, a finesse guy where House is more of a power guy. He's got 6 pitches in his arsenal and in spite of a fastball that reaches the low 90s, nothing really and truly fools hitters the way one of the greats can.
Credit where credit is due though: Carranza pushed his ERA down by almost a run last season. In large part that was due to being less prone to allowing balls to go over the fence at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, colloquially referred to as the Launching Pad. Carranza was still a "road warrior" inasmuch has he pitched to a 2.64 ERA away from home ass opposed to a 3.69 in Atlanta, but 11 of his 21 HRs allowed were on the road this year and overall the HRs represent a 7-dinger dip from when he finished 8th worst in the NL in 1971.
Carranza is in the prime of his career. He's won 16 games in the last 2 seasons and even if the Braves can't reach the playoffs again, 16 wins in 1973 seems about right as well.
Julio Sandoval
RHP No. 97
RR, 6'0" 204 lbs.
Born 1942-01-17
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 NYM MLB 2 9 0 5.67 15 15 0 84.0 114 59 53 41 33
1970 ATL MLB 8 4 0 2.48 16 16 2 116.0 92 42 32 38 62
1971 ATL MLB 13 15 0 3.87 37 37 7 253.0 289 127 109 72 101
1972 ATL MLB 10 12 0 3.25 28 28 7 199.0 195 96 72 65 72
There's an old saying by Napoleon that goes like "never interrupt your opponent when he's in the middle of a mistake". In 1970 the Mets, fresh off their first and so far only World Championship, were flailing and in particular Julio Sandoval, fresh off of going 18-7 and leading the NL in ERA, was looking really bad. Never mind that he'd also had an ERA under 3 in both '67 and '68, he was 2-9 with an ERA near 6 and New York needed to make a change NOW. So they sold Sandoval off to the Braves - no players attached, just money, and Sandoval immediately went back to the pitcher he'd used to be.
In the last couple seasons he hasn't quite been the ERA-leader type; he does play in a park that's not nearly as kind to ERAs as Shea Stadium is, after all. Sandoval on paper also might not be the best fit for this team: he's not a strikeout guy at all, Atlanta's regular lineup is aging and lacks the range of a lot of teams, and while he did complete 11 games in '69 he doesn't really have the kind of 20-CG stamina that a team with a suspect bullpen would prefer. As a back of the rotation starter though, Sandoval's kind of great with it. He pitched into the 10th inning in the Game 3, 5-2 loss to the Pirates that ended the NLCS; it was hardly his fault that he couldn't keep going.
Colin Rose
RHP No. 14
RR, 6'1" 182 lbs.
Born 1944-04-01
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ATL MLB 8 8 0 4.52 34 15 3 125.1 124 69 63 59 49
1971 RIC AAA 5 5 0 3.92 11 11 7 91.2 82 43 40 27 31
1971 ATL MLB 2 1 0 4.94 6 3 0 23.2 27 14 13 11 6
1972 ATL MLB 11 11 0 3.55 27 27 8 202.1 175 86 80 64 107
I'm just gonna keep it a buck here: Colin Rose is Phil Niekro. As in, I literally imported Phil Niekro into the game and then changed his name because at the time I was in the mind of being full-fictional (since then I've brought in Kent Tekulve and I think Frank White is in the Royals' organization as well). I've also manually bumped his Stuff up a couple times because, this being a fictional league, the Stuff rates are a little higher than if this was a historical season. Also, I brought him in several years after his actual debut, which was in 1964, so with luck he'll pitch into the 90s should I keep the league going that long.
As you might have figured out then, "Rose" is a knuckleball pitcher. Every game is an adventure. He juuuust missed being in the playoff rotation last year and even though he's already 28 the knuckler takes a long time to figure out and understand and so he might still be on the improvement jag. Since he throws the dancer, Rose has got all the stamina in the world. He's taken out of the game when he starts to get lit up, not when he's "tired". He missed more than half of the 1971 season with a torn meniscus in his knee but looked better than ever in '72. I'd say don't expect a guy who looks like a beer league pitcher to ever with a Gold Glove but truth be told, "Knucksie" is not that bad with it. Expect this guy to be a stalwart of this rotation for the next decade.
Roberto Ortiz
RHP No. 18
RR, 6'2" 187 lbs.
Born 1946-01-29
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 OAK MLB 12 10 0 3.74 33 33 2 221.0 175 100 92 141 245
1971 OAK MLB 13 17 0 3.70 36 36 5 242.2 19 111 100 164 260
1972 OAK MLB 5 3 0 3.66 15 15 2 108.0 78 45 44 71 104
1972 ATL MLB 5 7 0 4.45 18 14 2 103.0 94 55 51 62 93
The Braves traded away their starting shortstop Jon Reid in order to acquire Ortiz, who they figured would be hard-throwing foil to the relative soft-tossers in the rest of the Braves' rotation. Instead, Ortiz was pretty bad, so bad that he fell out of the rotation by season's end. Ortiz's issue, as it has been since his rookie year with the Kansas City A's in 1967, is control. He gets Ks because nobody, including Ortiz himself, knows where his pitches are going to land. That arsenal by the way includes a fastball that regularly hits the mid to high 90s and has been rumored to once get over 100, although reports are unreliable.
Is a move to the bullpen in order? It really seems a waste in this era to move guys who can start into non-starting roles, but in 4 relief appearances Ortiz threw 7 innings and struck out 8. He did walk 6. That's more of a argument that you use him to open up an inning, though, than one to put him back into a pretty jam-packed rotation.
John Winn
RHP No. 28
SR, 5'11" 200 lbs.
Born 1942-07-15
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ATL MLB 3 4 23 1.53 51 0 0 76.1 66 14 13 19 75
1970 CHC MLB 1 0 0 2.99 4 0 0 3.0 2 1 1 1 2
1971 ATL MLB 10 4 31 1.32 62 0 0 102.0 73 18 15 21 98
1972 ATL MLB 5 7 19 1.95 59 0 0 87.2 67 20 19 22 88
John "Scorpion" Winn is the backbone of this team, way more than any starter is. That 3 inning stint in Chicago is from my whole "fake players. real transactions" thing where the Braves were... let's be honest, kind of dumb in real life, and also their relief ace in 1970 was a 37 year old Hoyt Wilhem, not an in-his-prime fireballer. STILL, the Braves just plain left waived him in 1970, had the shocked Pikachu face when the Cubs picked him up, and even needed to give up a prospect to get him back (fortunately for the Braves, the man they gave up - 2B Manuel Lozano - went 4-31 in the major leagues and hit .212 in AAA this year).
He came back without too much complaint - Winn is a nose to the grindstone guy and is too busy working on his craft to worry about that sort of thing - and has saved 50 games in 2 seasons. At that, he was slowed down this year by elbow tendinitis in spring training that led the team to treat him pretty lightly all season long. He still struck out more than a man per inning and had 27 shutdowns and a sub-2 ERA. Some real haters might point to his 1-1, 2.91 July as part of the reason why the NL West was so close but come on, man, how can you say that Winn of all people was holding anyone back at all?
Jake Cari
RHP No. 23
RR, 5'12" 187 lbs.
Born 1944-09-16
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ATL MLB 7 7 0 3.99 23 23 3 135.0 131 67 60 52 99
1971 ATL MLB 11 12 0 3.55 29 29 3 197.1 200 88 78 71 105
1972 RIC AAA 2 3 0 4.42 5 5 0 38.2 39 19 19 12 34
1972 ATL MLB 8 4 0 2.15 22 13 3 117.0 89 30 28 37 77
In a season where there were lots of snubs of pretty darn good players in the selection to the Midsummer Classic, Jake Cari's appointment to the All-Star Game has to be one of the most bizarre selections in the history of the league. Hey, sure, he pitched well this year, aside from the 4.50 ERA in 3 appearances in April that led to his temporary demotion to AAA. He was always a back of the rotation guy or a long reliever. Even when Mikhail Baryshnikov went down with the torn UCL that proved to be a career-ender, Cari didn't climb into the bullpen and in fact he didn't even appear in the postseason for this team.
Cari was still very, very solid, and should be a pretty decent trade chip for someone who wants to promote him into a larger role. I've got a really hard time seeing how he breaks into this team as-is, AS appearance or not.
Infield
Armando Flores
C No. 19
RR, 5'10" 200 lbs.
Born 1942-07-23
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 WAS MLB 0.290 128 524 49 152 24 0 4 60 25 62 2
1971 WAS MLB 0.290 120 497 47 144 23 2 7 65 15 68 0
1972 ATL MLB 0.235 120 425 26 100 11 3 6 47 23 58 0
After being basically catcherless for 2 seasons in more Braves Braveyness, Atlanta traded away their hot-hitting backup at the position Andres Gamez, for this man. Gamez flourished in his new surroundings but if I'm being honest Atlanta can't be sad about this deal. Gamez is more of a lead-by-example guy but lead by example he did and to be honest he fits in with the vets on this team better than the somewhat goofy Gamez (hey!) ever did.
Flores doesn't have a really good arm but he is great with the pitching staff. He really slumped at the plate last year, it has to be said. Given that he hit .290, .290, and .278 the previous two years with Washington, we think that he'll be right back up there once he figures out NL pitching. The gap power should return as well.
Christopher Guest
C No. 8
RR, 6'2" 209 lbs.
Born 1948-08-03
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 REN A 0.287 29 101 15 29 2 0 4 17 14 18 1
1970 CHA A 0.188 9 32 5 6 0 0 1 5 7 7 1
1970 SAV AA 0.336 29 116 24 39 10 0 2 27 14 17 0
1971 SAV AA 0.304 51 181 23 55 9 1 6 28 15 22 1
1971 RIC AAA 0.296 70 226 27 67 9 0 3 27 37 42 2
1971 ATL MLB 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1972 ATL MLB 0.225 49 120 10 27 9 1 1 12 14 27 0
Another big factor that led to the team deciding to trade for the veteran Flores was the rapid rise of 1970s' first round draft pick (last man picked in the first, actually) Christopher Guest. It's hard to draw a bead on exactly what kind of player Guest will be in the majors just because he hasn't stuck around in any one place for long enough to build up a large statline. Scouts think he's worth around a .270 average with 20-25 doubles and a solid walk rate. Last year his K/W ratio was not great. The guy's still 24 though, come on.
Guest has a better arm than Flores but doesn't have the same defensive reputation. That might be just fine with Atlanta, who's always been more about scoring runs than preventing them from being allowed. He did have a CERA almost a run lower than Flores - 2.67 to 3.50 - although that to me speaks more to how iffy CERA is as a tool to evaluate catchers than anything else. The fact that his speed is only below average makes him practically a speed demon in catcher terms. Somehow he even stole 15 bases in his senior year at New York University; if he steals 15 bases in his major league career I'll be surprised.
It's really not a matter of if but when Guest takes over that starting job and "when" could be as early as 1973.
Dante Chairez
1B No. 27
LR, 5'11" 191 lbs.
Born 1944-03-28
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ATL MLB 0.294 147 528 91 155 29 1 35 102 80 115 2
1971 ATL MLB 0.267 158 589 89 157 25 3 25 92 72 110 1
1972 ATL MLB 0.226 139 505 63 114 11 2 28 68 53 97 3
Chairez spent his 3rd full season as the Braves' starter as a man in desperate need of a platoon partner. In 144 at-bats against lefties in 1972 he hit just .167 with 4 HRs. He's always been able to hit them before but for whatever reason they just plain had his number and the Braves for their part just plain could not find a dance partner for him. As a result his aerage, runs scored, and RBIs all dipped precipitously even though he did lead the team in HRs (and finished 8th in the NL in that category). The easy diagnosis is, he strikes out too much. In years past that was a side effect of him taking a lot of pitches until he found the one he wanted, but in '72 he just whiffed a lot - his walks were also at a 3 year low and as a result of all this he was actually a tick below average in on-base percentage (.300 vs the league average of .301).
Chairez is fine at first, nothing great, maybe a little too short for the position. He's got no speed whatsoever although somehow, some way he attempted 6 steals last season. He's not bright enough to ever be a team leader although the fans love the cool breeze he creates with his huge cuts he takes each at-bat.
Franklin Martinez
PH/1B No. 5
RR, 6'2" 199 lbs.
Born 1935-03-23
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ATL MLB 0.241 103 232 22 56 14 0 4 29 15 41 1
1971 ATL MLB 0.250 94 104 12 26 5 1 4 15 3 20 0
1972 ATL MLB 0.223 78 94 15 21 3 1 7 21 7 15 0
The 37 year old Cranklin could have / should have been that platoon mate but a combination of a strained PCL muscle that kept him out half of July, all of August, and most of September and general ineffectiveness kept him from being that guy: Martinez started just 8 games at first all season long. When he did play, he continued to mash lefties: .255 with 5 HRs in 37 at-bats for a .638 SLG - but he was also only 9-47 vs righties. The right-handed half of a platoon needs to hit righty pitching to some degree so this was a problem.
A mainstay of the team, mostly as a pinch-hitting specialist, since 1960, time is drawing near an end for Martinez both in Atlanta and, probably, in the major leagues.
Kevin Dwyer
2B No. 2
RR, 5'12" 192 lbs.
Born 1939-02-17
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ATL MLB 0.333 146 595 108 198 38 10 30 95 54 51 2
1971 ATL MLB 0.314 125 509 89 160 29 5 19 77 44 47 1
1972 ATL MLB 0.329 137 516 91 170 29 4 18 77 65 49 2
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? At the ripe old age of 33, Dwyer led the league in hitting for the 2nd time in 3 years in doing so set a new career high in walks, resulting in also leading the NL in on-base percentage with .402. Even as the league around him forgot how to hit, Dwyer's clutch numbers - runs and RBIs - stayed pretty much exactly where they were in '71.
He's nowhere near retirement of course but I have to say this: everyone talks about Henry Riggs as the superstar / future HOFer on this team but maybe web should start including the 12 time All-Star Dwyer in that conversation. He's at 84 in the HOF Monitor with a 45 in Standards so far. Fine. He'll have to play for a few more years. Dwyer has 2,041 career hits, including 1,958 as a 2nd baseman, a number that's just 31 behind 50s and 60s Giants' star Jeff Beckwith (in fact, I had the game generate him as a superstar as kind of a Willie Mays analog, although Beckwith was never near Mays in terms of ability) for the most in MLB history. He's already the all-time leader among 2B in total bases and doubles and could conceivably pass Yankees legend Ty Stover (who just retired this year) in that category: Stover hit 335 of his 412 HRs at the position; Dwyer has 205 of his 216 at the second sack). Barring a catastrophic injury he'll be the clear GOAT at the position.
David Oddsson
2B/1B/OF No. 13
RR, 6'2" 184 lbs.
Born 1948-06-24
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 SHR AA 0.276 99 279 40 77 6 5 6 43 41 42 10
1971 SAV AA 0.258 28 97 13 25 1 2 3 11 11 23 3
1971 RIC AAA 0.339 73 221 31 75 9 1 9 46 19 26 1
1971 ATL MLB 0.400 3 5 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
1972 RIC AAA 0.300 51 160 27 48 6 0 7 24 13 37 1
1972 ATL MLB 0.200 36 95 13 19 1 0 4 13 12 18 4
Oddson, a scouting discovery by the Braves organization out of the decidedly non-baseball-playing Iceland in 1965, played 2nd base in the minor leagues but is clearly blocked by Dwyer at the position so instead they tried him out as the platoon partner for Dante Chairez that Cranklin could not be. It didn't work out. Oddson started out OK, hitting .245 in July (13-53), though even then I think the 12 strikeouts should have been a harbinger of things to come. "Things to come" were aveages of .153 and .133 in diminishing playing time over the last two months of the season.
Oddson might have 10ish HR power and hit .339 in AAA in 1971; he could still be of value to someone if he can cut down on the whiffs. Although he's an adequate 2nd baseman, a downright below average arm means he will never be able to play on the right side of the infield. That leaves the outfield corners, where that arm restricts him mainly to left. Oddson probably has a place in the league but I'd be hard-pressed to see how that place is with the Braves.
Vicente Luna
3B No. 22
RR, 6'1" 185 lbs.
Born 1936-05-18
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ATL MLB 0.289 70 301 46 87 5 1 14 41 20 33 4
1971 ATL MLB 0.260 119 504 64 131 17 3 12 58 34 62 6
1972 ATL MLB 0.248 142 581 67 144 17 1 15 69 41 70 5
The 37 year old Vicente Luna is a 6 time All-Star but the last time he went to the old Midsummer Classic was 1968. At this point in his career he's basically an average third baseman. For a team like the Braves, it means they basically don't have to think too much about the position. They might have to start thinking about it pretty soon though. Luna was once a regular .300 hitter but he hasn't hit over .300 in 4 years and 1972's .248 was the lowest average of his career. His Ks, meanwhile have continued to climb: 70 was a career high. You'd think that would allow the increasingly slow Luna to stop clogging up the basepaths but he also set a not-great career high with 22 GIDPs.
A quick look at the minor league system tells me that the Braves simply do not have anyone who looks like they're ready to challenge him. The Braves will invite Canadian rocker Bill Wallace to training camp on the basis of a .335 average in Richmond last year but the scouts say he's reeeeeeeeally bad at third base so don't expect much of a competition. In all probability Luna will get at least one more chance to show he can be the high-average stud he was in the 60s.
William Jefferson Clinton
SS/IF No. 6
RR, 5'11" 199 lbs.
Born 1946-05-20
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 HAW AAA 0.571 3 7 5 4 0 1 1 2 4 1 2
1971 RIC AAA 0.256 65 223 34 57 9 3 2 29 34 30 3
1971 ATL MLB 0.250 28 60 4 15 4 0 0 7 3 5 0
1972 ATL MLB 0.229 93 288 27 66 6 7 3 24 33 56 4
The Braves liked what they saw in the rangy, shady Clinton enough that they traded away their incumbent starter Jon Reid in June to give him the job. Early returns on "Slick Willie" are that he's about what they already had in Winn: a good but not great hitter who's adequate but nothing special in the field. Clinton did finish 2nd on the team in triples in the slightly over a half-season that he did play and the game describes him as a "go getter", although I'll be honest: I don't want to know what, exactly, he is going and getting.
Clinton can't consider his spot secure; he'll be pushed in spring training by the next guy on the list and Kenny Ortega, an 11th round pick in the draft who looked really good in A ball and who, my crystal ball says, will eventually become a Hollywood director with such classic hits as "Hocus Pocus" and "High School Musical".
Pedro Almodóvar
IF No. 10
RR, 5'9" 164 lbs.
Born 1949-09-29
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1971 SAV AA 0.324 41 139 16 45 7 1 3 23 11 18 2
1971 RIC AAA 0.256 36 121 17 31 5 2 2 21 12 16 3
1972 RIC AAA 0.238 89 344 33 82 9 1 5 33 18 58 1
1972 ATL MLB 0.191 26 68 4 13 0 2 0 6 7 13 0
Normally so far I cut these off at about 100 at-bats but Almodóvar figures to play a prominent role in Atlanta's plans in 1973 so here he is. Out of the 3 guys set to compete for the shortstop job, Almodóvar, a 3rd round pick last year out of Spain, is far and away the best fielder of the bunch. The 23 year old is good enough to win multiple Gold Glove awards, starting immediately. The
worst thing about his fielding tools is his "only" plus arm; everything else - range, hands, and recklessness on the pivot - are graded 70+ on the 20-80 scale.
His issue is hitting. Almodóvar struck out 58 times in 344 innings in AAA, which is pretty high for a guy who is not a big threat to hit it out of the park. If he can get that under control, he stole 30+ bases in each of his last 2 years in, um, Spanish baseball. Okay maybe that's not the best comp. He has decent speed but needs to learn better instincts.
Outfield
Chris Ward
LF No. 37
LL, 5'9" 184 lbs.
Born 1946-05-21
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 RIC AAA 0.336 43 149 19 50 7 3 3 18 18 21 24
1970 ATL MLB 0.255 71 200 25 51 7 5 2 17 23 24 12
1971 ATL MLB 0.296 124 456 86 135 13 7 12 47 50 67 56
1972 ATL MLB 0.267 107 438 69 117 15 12 11 35 36 58 35
Even missing 6 weeks of the season with a broken hand and being slowed down for another month with a groin strain, Ward led the league in steals for the second consecutive year. So why are the Braves unhappy with the 26 year old speed demon? A few reasons. First and foremost, Ward is quickly building the reputation for being a locker room cancer. He's very "me first" and is usually the last person to arrive at the stadium and the first one to leave, though I guess to his credit he isn't easily angered.
But when your work ethic is low, it really puts all of your weaknesses on full display because you aren't working on them. For Ward, that really shows up in his fielding, where, in spite of being legitimately one of the fastest players in the league, he's barely adequate in left field. He's just straight up lackadaisical out there at times. He's got a strong enough arm to maybe move into left field once Henry Riggs retires but then you think of him running at half-speed to chase a grounder down the right field line and you just start thinking of triples and inside the park homeruns.
The Braves had a guy hit really, really well for them when Ward and Riggs were out (coming up next!). It would not surprise me in the least if they move on from Ward this offseason.
Wolf Blitzer
RF/LF No. 67
LL, 6'4" 201 lbs.
Born 1948-03-22
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 REN A 0.312 91 276 56 86 15 2 15 49 54 71 5
1970 SAV AA 0.261 22 46 12 12 3 0 1 6 11 6 1
1971 SAV AA 0.277 56 159 22 44 13 4 7 26 29 34 0
1971 RIC AAA 0.223 54 166 17 37 6 1 0 28 32 29 2
1972 RIC AAA 0.314 76 274 35 86 10 0 17 52 28 44 1
1972 ATL MLB 0.322 49 115 18 37 4 2 7 23 11 20 0
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THESE CORNY GAME GENERATED NAMES Wolf "The Situation Room" Blitzer is the reason why the Braves might move on from Ward. He hit a combined 24 HRs between AAA and the major leagues with a batting average well over .300. Scouts think that maybe an average in the .320s with 20+ HR power is on the high side but he should be well above average in both categories. Additionally, he works very hard where Ward, frankly, does not, and so teammates are a bit more forgiving of his own liabilities in the field (he is a corner outfielder after all).
I do see guys like this just suddenly forget how to hit all the time. Bliter's only 24 and has done this in the past, particularly in A-ball Reno in 1970. Giving him the job would be a risk. Life is full of risks.
Josh Damon
LF/CF No. 39
RR, 5'11" 197 lbs.
Born 1940-10-29
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ATL MLB 0.261 117 257 26 67 7 0 7 38 18 37 2
1971 ATL MLB 0.259 122 459 61 119 18 1 18 61 44 67 3
1972 ATL MLB 0.261 115 387 48 101 12 3 13 47 37 42 2
Damon's been on the team since 1963, going back to their time in Milwaukee. If he sticks around, it's probably as a backup at this point. Damon wound up being, technically, a starter last year for the second consecutive season. He's... solid, like the dictionary definition of solid. Good power for a centerfielder, a good average, good speed, good bat control, good defense... solid. There's surely places on lots and lots of teams in the starting lineup for a guy like this - if not literally in center then in this kind of "fill in wherever" role the Braves had him in in the second half of the season.
As implied, since Damon is pretty good at a lot of things, he doesn't have any major weaknesses either. He doesn't bunt for a hit, does that count? I think it doesn't. I see him coming back easily and he'll probably find work in Atlanta, somehow, somewhere.
Michael Lee Aday
CF/LF No. 3
LL, 5'10" 187 lbs.
Born 1947-12-01
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 GRW A 0.253 50 182 30 46 6 4 1 12 24 32 26
1970 SHR AA 0.198 25 81 7 16 3 0 1 14 8 20 4
1971 SAV AA 0.247 88 275 35 68 14 5 2 22 27 59 8
1971 RIC AAA 0.246 17 65 10 16 0 1 1 7 15 5 5
1971 ATL MLB 0.000 7 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
1972 RIC AAA 0.266 31 109 16 29 5 0 4 12 13 19 5
1972 ATL MLB 0.281 93 349 38 98 17 3 2 32 33 50 13
The fact that Meatloaf and Wolf Blitzer are basically the same age is one of those facts that makes zero sense until you think about it and then makes perfect sense. I guess one should say "were" because the real-life Michael Lee Aday died of COVID complications. In-game, your favorite future star of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a slap-hitting, speedy center fielder born to run(! I think that's Springsteen though) and be at the top of the lineup. He's not as fast as teammate Chris Ward - who is? - but he's still a good bet for that leadoff slot if Ward goes bye-bye.
Meatloaf, too, is a plus centerfielder who'd be a Gold Glove guy if he could just pay a little more attention in the field. The man has side gigs. It's only natural that he doesn't always have his mind on the game. He's still just 24 but if everything comes together he could inhabit both of those roles into the 1980s for this team.
Jose Gomez
CF/RF No. 15
RR, 6'0" 200 lbs.
Born 1940-12-30
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 TAC AAA 0.298 12 47 15 14 2 2 3 10 7 6 5
1970 CHC MLB 0.125 11 16 3 2 0 0 0 2 5 4 1
1970 ATL MLB 0.260 49 173 32 45 4 3 9 22 14 39 7
1971 ATL MLB 0.247 59 162 29 40 7 1 10 19 18 22 5
1972 ATL MLB 0.217 72 152 18 33 5 2 7 20 26 36 4
If Damon is getting pushed out of a job by the youth movement, Jose Gomez is reeeeeeeally being pushed out of a job. The 1968 All-Star with the Cubs was sold to Atlanta in the early part of the 1970 season and has been a pretty solid backup ouftielder and, lately, pinch-hitter. He was actually godawful as a pinch-hitter - 3 for 26 - so it would seem that he's best used as the right-handed half of a platoon. That could happen in left, if you consider Aday and Damon sharing CF and Chris Ward moving on... but those are a lot of parts that have to move just right to see Damon keep a job here. More than likely, the 31 year old will be on the move once again.
Gomez is a decent outfielder, perhaps not your ideal man in center but he won't embarrass you at any of the three positions. When he's gotten the chance to play he's shown signs of being around a 15-20 HR guy who in the past at least has hit in the 250s and 260s (he has a lifetime BA of .250 even). Like Damon, there's nothing overwhelming in there, but I would call him a bit less than Josh Damon in just about everything.
Henry Riggs
RF No. 32
LL, 6'2" 201 lbs.
Born 1935-09-28
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ATL MLB 0.278 153 553 110 154 28 3 41 108 109 71 0
1971 ATL MLB 0.299 149 559 112 167 35 1 43 119 93 78 0
1972 ATL MLB 0.263 105 396 57 104 18 0 22 59 59 65 0
Was 1972 a sign that Riggs is slowing down at age 37, or did he just, you know, get hurt> Complicating this story and perhaps moving the narrative to the first point is that it wasn't really just one injury, though a strained hamstring did cause him to miss all of August and chunks of July and September, but also a couple of other shorter-term hurts to his quads and back that sapped his strength early in the season. All that said, The Hammer had 7 HRs in September (for only 15 RBIs but blame his teammates for that) with another 3 in 3 games in October (4 in 6 games if you count the playoffs); rumors of the demise of his power are greatly exaggerated.
One thing that he doesn't have so much anymore is any kind of range in the field. Riggs won a Gold Glove in 1970 based purely on his arm but now, just 2 years later, it's hard to classify him as anything but a net negative in the field. He's also graded pretty slow in speed and hasn't stolen a base since 1968.
I haven't had the chance to explore these guys' careers much but... Riggs, who is NOT Henry Aaron but a "generic" superstar level added player from the early 50s, is currently the lifetime leader in homeruns with 545. It's interesting at least to me that he's gotten there in a very similar fashion to the actual Hank Aaron: he's led the league in HRs just twice, 1959 (with 37) and 1971 and he's got a relatively low amount of black ink for an inner-circle HOFer (42 black ink points; right now the HOF average is 37 with the league just getting old enough to start to have some full-career guys in there). His grey ink is off the charts (292!) as is his HOF Monitor score (223). I'd guess he'll still have the HR record when he retires and it'll even, most likely, be over 600. He is 47 HRs behind the real Aaron at the same age (Riggs is also 2 years younger than real-life Hank Aaron) so I'm not sure we'll see 700... at least not from him.